Category — Books

Just finished “The Tipping Point” by Malcolm Gladwell. It’s the third book I’ve read by him and I’m adding his newest book “What the Dog Saw” to my to-read list. In fact, Malcolm Gladwell is now in that category of authors where it doesn’t matter what the book is about, what the reviews are, I don’t need to browse a few pages, I just add any new book he writes to the to-read list. Period. I don’t care if it’s a yiddish cookbook; if Malcolm writes it, I will read it.

Wow, two posts in the span of 10 minutes! While I’m thinking about it, I just wanted to give an update on the “YEAR OF THE READING LIST” project I’ve been doing. Yes, it is still going on. I had to take a little break and read a bit of nonfiction. My list of books I wanted to read was getting out of control so I wanted to knock a few off. Before any of you judge me or call me a quitter, just keep in mind that I got pretty far into “Anna Karenina” before I couldn’t take it anymore; that book would cause most people to swear off reading for a bit. I will tackle a few of the shorter, less-Russian volumes next. I’m thinking about some Hemmingway.

I did not become a reader until half-way through graduate school. A couple of reasons why were:

1. my addiction to television (which I’ve since overcome)
2. my lack of time (I had lots of homework until I finished grad-school coursework)
3. I hated reading because my teachers assigned crummy books that THEY thought I should read. They didn’t bother consulting me on the matter.

Now that none of these conditions apply, I thoroughly love to read. I choose what I want to read. However, there are a number of titles that I never read that I probably should read in order to be considered a learned individual. Therefore, 201o will be the year of the SUMMER READING LIST. I’ve consulted a number of different lists of great books, thought about titles that often come up in “JEOPARDY” questions, asked my wife, and consulted some of my students to compile the following list of 30 titles. The only titles that I eliminated from consideration were:

• titles that were incredibly long (I’ve budgeted 2 weeks per book). I’m sure that “Crime & Punishment” and “War & Peace” are great books, just not for this exercise
• books I’ve read already
• books where I saw the movie (regardless of how true to the book the movie is)
• books by chicks (sorry, Jane Austin, the Brontes, and especially Toni Morrison, were what caused my dislike of reading) The exception is “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley, but hey it’s a monster book. If it makes any of you feminists feel any better, I do plan on reading “Pride & Prejudice & Zombies” and “Sense & Sensibility and Sea Monsters.”

Without further delay, here is the list:

1. “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain
2. “Slaughterhouse Five” by Kurt Vonnegut
3. “Animal Farm” by George Orwell
4. “Anna Karenina” by Leo Tolstoy
5. “Moby Dick” by Herman Melville
6. “Around the World in 80 Days” by Jules Verne
7. “For Whom the Bell Tolls” by Ernest Hemingway
8. “The Invisible Man” by H.G. Wells
9. 2 Shakespeare plays I haven’t read-TBD
10. “The Pilgrim’s Progress” by John Bunyan
11. “Treasure Island” by Robert Louis Stevenson
12. “Mere Christianity” by C. S. Lewis
13. “The Hobbit” by J.R.R. Tolkein
14. “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley
15. “The Hound of the Baskervilles” by Arthur Conan Doyle
16. “The Agony and the Ecstasy” by Irving Stone (this is for you father-in-law)
17. “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley
18. “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck
19. “Catcher in the Rye” by J. D. Salinger
20. “The Brothers Karamazov” by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
21. “The Prince” by Niccolo Machiavelli
22. “Swiss Family Robinson” by Johann Wyss
23. “Gulliver’s Travels” by Jonathan Swift
24. “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame” by Victor Hugo
25. “Robinson Crusoe” by Daniel Defoe
26. “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams
27. “Ulysses” by James Joyce
28. “Catch-22″ by Joseph Heller
29. “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie
30. “A Confederacy of Dunces” by John Toole

I just finished reading “John Quincy Adams” by Lynn Hudson Parsons. Great biography. It was nice that it was only about 300 pages, unlike the other biographies that I end up reading that have more like 600. The author does a great job of encapsulating our 6th president’s life without using “historian speak” or editoriallizing too much. I believe only David McCullough could write a better bio. I can sum JQA up by saying he was a very learned man, someone with a servant’s heart, a patriot and statesman like his father, but a lousy president and politician. I find it interesting that the author devotes very little time to his actual presidency other than to show how his distaste and therefore lack of “electioneering” pretty much made him easy pickings for his opponents. I can’t say I agree completely with all of his political philosophies, but the man had principles and a devotion to the Union. The fact that he was called into service as a member of the House of Representatives after he was president until the day he died (he actually died in the House) shows his statesmanship. His work as an opponent of the spread of slavery will be his legacy, and though historians are not kind to his years in the White House, no historian can doubt his integrity and love for his country. Overall, this bio gets 4 stars. Thanks for reading.

Just finished reading “Predictably Irrational” by Dan Ariely. It was an unabridged audiobook, so my wife claims I didn’t “read” it though. Call it what you wish; I absorbed it into my melon. It was a very fascinating look into why we make the decisions that we do. I especially like how he describes the various experiments he and his colleagues performed. It also helped that the reader had a wonderful british accent, so that made the experience very enjoyable. All in all, I highly recommend this title, and I plan on giving it 4 stars. Cheers.

I just finished a trio of books on the restaurant business from the point of view of a restaurant critic (Garlic & Sapphires), a waiter (Waiter Rant), and a chef (Kitchen Confidential). Although each author gave a slightly different perspective on the industry, the one theme that stuck out among all three was this: there are a lot of really crazy people working (& eating) in restaurants. These people are not eccentric, not misunderstood, I mean certifiably, mentally ill.

Among the three books, my least favorite, and the one I think was the least well-written was surprisingly the one by a “professional” writer. “Garlic and Sapphires” by the former New York Times food critic Ruth Reichl was not so much about the food, but about the personas she had to generate to eat in restaurants without being recognized. It’s not surprising that when a well known critic walks into a high end restaurant and is recognized, the owner, staff, and cooks fall over themselves to make sure they receive a stellar review. What was a bit disturbing was the level of “profiling” that occurs the second a patron walks into a restaurant. Everyone from the maître d’, to the waitstaff, to the people who plate the food all gauge the level of service to how you look, how you talk, and who you are with. Overall, her stories about the characters and the restaurants are mildly entertaining, but overall I describe the book as rather average.

“Waiter Rant” and “Kitchen Confidential” on the other hand kept me turning pages and laughing the whole way. Although I’ve never worked in a restaurant (and never plan to) I can sympathize with “the waiter” (he never identifies himself in the book as he wants to keep his identity and those of his colleagues a secret) as can anyone who deals with the public in any kind of customer service capacity and has dealt with all manner of ungrateful, arrogant, and inconsiderate customers. I will say that I do have more respect for waiters in general, and I plan to be a little more thoughtful when it comes to tipping (though I still think it’s an archaic practice).

“Kitchen Confidential” by Anthony Bourdain is exactly what the book jacket describes “adventures in the culinary underbelly.” Everyone hears stories of what happens behind those big metal doors, but I think people would be absolutely shocked by how crazy these guys really are. After seeing the kind of hours, the level of verbal abuse, and the working conditions cooks must endure, I can see why it takes a special type of person (on special types of pharmaceuticals) to prepare the food that makes it to your plate. Beyond all the debauchery, the drugs, the foul language though exists a unique fraternity of craftsmen who have the habits and the work ethic that many other vocations could really use; be on time, never call in sick, respect the chain of authority, and above all work as hard as you can to make your skills better. Great book. Highly recommended, though the language may put many readers off. Oh, and never eat seafood at a restaurant on a Monday, especially if it says “SPECIAL”.

I put this book on my “to read” list some time ago. I remember Thomas Sowell recommended it in one of his columns. In some ways I’m glad I waited until just recently to read it. “The Forgotten Man” by Amity Shlaes, dispels many of the myths of the Great Depression. In school I was always taught that FDR was the savior of the country as he led us out of the Great Depression and to victory in WWII. When one looks at his policies however, the reality is that they prolonged it unnecessarily. Though I have immense respect for any man who occupies the office of the President, I have to admit that I’m dismayed at how far FDR turned this country away from free market principles. What is so surprising is that it was obvious that the hands-off, small-government philosophy of Calvin Coolidge produced a booming economy; it wasn’t until Herbert Hoover started tinkering that things headed south. Roosevelt and his “brain-trust” did exactly the opposite of what they should have done. They modeled their policies after the Soviet Union and began to “experiment.” It didn’t matter what they did or how illogical it was so long as the people saw that the government was doing something. I couldn’t help but see the parallels to the philosophy of the current administration. Though most of the book got me really depressed, I took heart that gradually the American people started to see the errors in the ways of their leaders, and began to reject them. If it wasn’t for the uncertainty regarding the U.S.’s involvement in WWII, it’s likely FDR wouldn’t have won his third term. So for me, as I get frustrated as how the American people seem to be so lost in their admiration of the current President and his Marxist policies, I do have hope that Americans can and will come to their senses and return to the principles that make this country great: freedom, free-markets, and a small government that does only what is Constitutionally called for.